The Hessians and the American Revolution

 I remember visiting the Hessian Barracks in Frederick, MD as a child. From Smithsonian:

On August 15, 1776, a flotilla of British ships arrived on Staten Island, New York, just south of Manhattan. On board the vessels were more than 8,600 foreign soldiers, the first major contingent of German troops to reach the American Colonies. (Another group had set up camp in Quebec several months earlier to reinforce British forces in Canada.) 

There was no mistaking the new arrivals. Unlike their British allies, who were famously known as the redcoats, the Hessians usually wore blue or green coats, sometimes accompanied by tall, pointy brass headgear called miter caps.

For more than a year, the British Army had been battling rebellious colonists intent on establishing an independent nation. In October 1775, a fed-up George III announced his intention to “put a speedy end to these disorders by the most decisive exertions.” The British king added that he had “received the most friendly offers of foreign assistance.” Despite vigorous objections from some lawmakers, Parliament backed George in taking up those offers, expecting that the added manpower would soon crush the rebellion once and for all.

The Germans apparently shared that optimism. “None of the soldiers that went to America in 1776 anticipated that the war would last more than a year or two,” writes Friederike Baer, a historian at Penn State Abington College, in her 2022 book, Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War. (Read more.)

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Penn State Law Dean Resigns

 From The Washington Free Beacon:

The dean of Penn State Dickinson Law resigned on Friday after a former student testified before Congress about the school’s mandatory anti-racism class, which required all first-year students to “acknowledge the reality of systemic racism.”

The school announced that Danielle Conway, who also leads the Association of American Law Schools, was stepping down as dean “effective immediately.” The move came two days after David Blackman, a Texas military veteran, said at a congressional hearing that he had left the law school over his objections to the course, which Conway created in 2020. She will remain on the law school’s faculty.

In a short press release on Friday, Penn State declined to thank Conway for her service. University provost Fotis Sotiropoulos said the school “remains fully committed to continuing to provide our law students with an excellent legal education.”

For his part, Blackman is taking a victory lap, telling the Washington Free Beacon that Conway’s departure is “a necessary acknowledgment” of the damage she caused.

“The law school shifted away from traditional, objective legal training in favor of forced ideological orthodoxy,” Blackman said. “This erosion of professional neutrality hurts the legal academy, the bar, and every student forced to comply.”

He added that Penn State should “take the logical next step” and eliminate the required course. (Read more.)

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Tench Tilghman of Maryland

Washington, Lafayette, and Tilghman at Yorktown

And so, as the dawn of that day grew bright
Was the dawn that followed the dreary night
Of trouble and woe and gloom and fear
That broke at last to a morning clear,
Brought by Tilghman over away
From Yorktown and Gloucester, far below
To the South, one hundred and twenty-five years ago.

~ Howard Pyle on Tilghman's Ride

 In the above painting the lily banner of royal France flies beside the American flag even as George Washington and Colonel Tench Tilghman, Washington's trusted aide-de-camp, stand with the Marquis de Lafayette, sent by King Louis XVI to help the Americans in their struggle for independence. The painting is after the Battle of Yorktown where the British were defeated by the French and American forces in October, 1781. Tilghman holds in his hands the dispatches with news of the victory which he would personally take to Congress in Philadelphia. According to Revolutionary War Archives:

Additionally, it was Tench Tilghman who brought the news of the surrender of General Cornwallis and the British on October 19th, 1781 following their defeat at Yorktown, to Congress. Tilghman, in his journey to notify Congress in Philadelphia, first stopped in Annapolis, Maryland and informed Maryland Governor Thomas Sim Lee of the surrender. However, Governor Lee had already been informed of the news, and as a result, sent the State House messenger, Jonathan Parker, to Philadelphia with the news. But, since those in Philadelphia were used to hearing information in the past that turned out to be rumors, and afraid to celebrate too soon, they waited anxiously for the official word; those dispatches that Tilghman carried. From Annapolis, Tilghman boarded a ferry at Rock Hall, Maryland, and after stopping to rest and see his family, continued on his journey to Philadelphia, arriving on October 24th, 1781. He first delivered the news to the President of Congress, Thomas McKean, then later that afternoon, attired in his full uniform and dress sword, Tench delivered the news to the members of Congress, as well as answered the numerous questions about the Battle of Yorktown. In appreciation for his faithful service, Congress awarded Tilghman a horse and another dress sword. That evening, a celebration by torchlight was held in Philadelphia in honor of Colonel Tilghman and the victory at Yorktown. In preparation for this celebration, the following was written and distributed to those in Philadelphia, saying, "those citizens who chose to illuminate on the Glorious Occasion, will do it this evening at Six, and extinguish their lights at Nine o’clock , and decorum and harmony are earnestly recommended to every Citizen, and a general discountenance to the least appearance of a riot."

 Dr. William H. Wroten, Jr. of Salsbury, Maryland wrote the following in the Salisbury Times in 1962:

Tench Tilghman's ride has become somewhat of a legend; therefore, various accounts have been given of his journey between Yorktown and Philadelphia. In some accounts, where that facts are not known, writers have attempted to picture what it must have been like as he crossed the Chesapeake Bay, rode through Kent County, etc. But for this story we will use Esther M. Dole's "Maryland during the American Revolution."

"By the terms of the surrender Cornwallis gave up 7,247 regular troops besides 840 sailors. One hundred and six guns were taken. The land forces and stores were assigned to the Americans and the ships and marines to the French who had ably assisted with their fleet. Maryland troops deserve a full share of the honor of this achievement for they have given material aid in the field under Gist and the State had exerted every effort to furnish the necessary supplies for the combined armies to maintain the siege."

ON THE surrender of Cornwallis, Col. Tench Tilghman of Maryland, aide-de-camp, was selected by Washington to carry the news to Congress at Philadelphia in the form of an official dispatch. Taking boat in York harbor he went to Annapolis which had received the news the day before from the Count do Grasse. He crossed the bay to Kent County, landing at Rock Hall, where he found a horse waiting for him. he then took the old post road to Edesville to Chestertown, thence north to Georgetown where he crossed the Sassafras River. When a horse would tire he would stop at a farmhouse so the account goes, and would shout, 'Cornwallis is taken, a fresh horse for Congress,' and one he would go."

He passed through Wilmington, and on to Philadelphia. It took him four days to make this memorable trip, and he arrived at midnight Oct. 23, 1781.

He knocked on the door of Thomas McKean's house (the President of the Continental Congress) told him of the glad tidings. Soon watchmen throughout the city were proclaiming the hour and shouting "All is well and Cornwallis taken." Within minutes most of the citizens were awake and in the streets celebrating the happy news. The State House bell rang out "Liberty" for the new American nation.

...Of more interest to us was the celebration that took place on Oct. 22, after Tench Tilghman rode into Chestertown. "This great event was no sooner announced to the public, than a large number of worthy citizens assembled, to celebrate the signal victory, (in a high degree auspicious to the cause of freedom and virtue) which was done with a decency and dignity becoming firm patriots, liberal citizens, and prudent members of the community-amidst the roaring of cannon, and the exhibition of bonfires, illumination, et., the gentlemen (having repaired to a hall suitable for the purpose) Drank the following toast, viz., 1. General Washington and the Allied Army; 2. Count de Grasse, and the Navy of France; 3. Congress; 4. Louis the 16th; a friend to the Rights of Mankind; 5. The United States; 6. General Greene and the Southern Army; 7. Count de Rochambeau; 8. The Memory of the illustrious Heroes who have fallen in the defense of American liberty; 9. King of Spain; 10. The United Provinces; 11. The Marquis de la Fayett; 12. The northern Arm; 13. The State of Maryland-the last in order but not the last in Love."

Tench Tilghman was the son of one of Maryland's oldest families. As the Maryland State Archives tell:

Tench Tilghman, one of Maryland's great patriots, was born on December 25, 1744 in Talbot County on his father's plantation. He was educated privately until the age of 14, when he went to Philadelphia to live with his grandfather, Tench Francis. In 1761, he graduated from the College and Academy of Philadelphia, which later became the University of Pennsylvania, and then went into business with his uncle Tench Francis, Jr. until just before the Revolutionary War. 

Tench Tilghman's public service began with his appointment by Congress to a commission established to form treaties with the Six Nations of Indian tribes. In 1776, Tilghman was commissioned captain in the Pennsylvania Battalion of the Flying Camp. In August 1776, he joined George Washington's staff as aide-de-camp and secretary. He served without pay until May 1781, when Washington, calling him a "zealous servant and slave to the public, and faithful assistant to me for nearly five years," procured for him a regular commission in the Continental Army....

After the War, Tilghman returned to Maryland where he resumed his career in business in Baltimore and married his cousin, Anna Marie Tilghman. They had two daughters, Anna Margaretta and Elizabeth Tench. Tilghman died on April 18, 1786 at the age of 41.

Tench Tilghman's Grave in Oxford, Maryland

In the words of George Washington (from a letter to Richard Tilghman, the brother of Tench Tilghman):

As there were few man for whom I had a warmer friendship or greater regard for your brother Colonel Tilghman—when living; so, with much truth I can assure you that there are whose death I could have more sincerely regretted—And I pray you and his numerous friends to permit me to mingle my sorrows with theirs on this unexpected and melancholy occasion. June 5, 1786 ...none could have felt his death with more regard than I did, because no one entertained a higher opinion of his worth.

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The Effort To Hide The Truth About A Stolen Election

 From AND Magazine:

Heather Honey runs an organization called Verity Vote in Pennsylvania. She is a walking encyclopedia of information on how elections are actually run in this country. In the aftermath of the 2020 election in Pennsylvania, Heather began to hear some very disturbing things. Put simply, she began to acquire information that in counties around the state, more votes had been counted than the number of voters who voted.

I’m not a math whiz, but I think we all understand that this is a big problem. Those two numbers – the number of people who voted and the number of votes cast – have to be the same.

Heather decided to dig in. As part of that effort, she contacted Lycoming County in northeast Pennsylvania and asked to review the CVR for the county. CVRs are spreadsheet-like digital records (raw data reports) generated by tabulator machines after ballots are scanned. They show how each ballot was interpreted (e.g., vote counts per candidate/race from each tabulator), without linking to individual voters. Access to this information is routine and typically granted informally.

The county told Heather to submit a formal right-to-know request. She did so.

The Office of the Secretary of State in Harrisburg intervened. How precisely that office was even advised of the request remains a little unclear. In any event, in response to what should have been a routine request for public information, the bureaucracy swung into action. The Secretary of State generated an opinion. The CVR for Lycoming County would not be made available. No CVR’s would be made available for any jurisdiction in Pennsylvania. Ever. (Read more.)

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It's A Wonderful Life (1946)

It's a Wonderful Life, originally a box office flop, has now been part of the American Christmas movie repertoire for decades. My former spouse owned a VHS copy when I first met him and after we were married it became our custom to watch it at least once during the Christmas season. We are always struck by the emphasis on the preciousness of a single human life. George Bailey, who thinks himself a failure, is granted the gift of seeing what the world would be like if he had never been born; it is not a pretty sight. One life touches so many others, even in a backwater town like Bedford Falls. Although most of the characters appear to be Protestant, there are many Catholic elements in the secular film. The power of intercessory prayer, the mediation of the angels and saints, are central themes. Yes, I know that departed souls never become "angels." Clarence calls himself one and is trying to "win his wings;" we always saw him as one of the Holy Souls on the brink of Paradise. He is sent to earth through the mediation of "Joseph" who I always assume is St. Joseph, patron of fathers. Frank Capra was an Italian Catholic, after all. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times:

In media interviews at the time, Capra did not portray it as a holiday film. In fact, he said he saw it as a cinematic remedy to combat what he feared was a growing trend toward atheism and to provide hope to the human spirit. In a moment of possible revisionism decades later, Capra said that he also realized that with the holiday season comes an inherent vulnerability in all humans, and that this uplifting tale might just ride on that sentiment.

The town of "Bedford Falls" where the film takes place could be any number of towns in Pennsylvania that we have known, and James Stewart, who played George Bailey, thought so, too, saying:

Two months had been spent creating the town of Bedford Falls, New York. For the winter scenes, the special effects department invented a new kind of realistic snow instead of using the traditional white cornflakes. As one of largest American movie sets ever made until then, Bedford Falls had 75 stores and buildings on four acres with a three block main street lined with 20 full grown oak trees.

As I walked down that shady street the morning we started work, it reminded me of my hometown, Indiana, Pennsylvania.

The very ordinariness of the town, all the mundane, everyday actions, the hidden tears and disappointments and heartbreaks, as well as the joys, and even the petals from a small girl's rose, are shown as being the elements which go into making a "wonderful life," rather than great deeds and worldly successes. George Bailey had to give up all his youthful dreams of setting the world on fire in order to save the family business. Because he is man who loves justice and hates iniquity, he must stand up to the local tyrant on behalf of the poor of the town. An unfortunate turn of events leaves him frustrated and despairing. He is about to take his own life but is stopped by an act of Divine intervention.

Donna Reed is radiant as Mary, George's wife and his saving grace, who asks her children to pray for their father. She is an ordinary girl who becomes an ordinary wife; in spite of hardships she never loses her dignity or her hope. As for the other characters, they are what make it a most enjoyable film; it is bursting with unsophisticated but colorful personalities, just as in certain small towns I have known. As James Stewart himself would later say:

Today I've heard the filmed called 'an American cultural phenomenon.' Well, maybe so, but it seems to me there is nothing phenomenal about the movie itself. It's simply about an ordinary man who discovers that living each ordinary day honorably, with faith in God and selfless concern for others, can make for a truly wonderful life.

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Benjamin Franklin: His Private Life

 From The Collector:

Meanwhile, the governor of Pennsylvania, Sir William Keith, had convinced Franklin to go to London to acquire equipment to start a newspaper. Franklin took up Keith’s offer, but while in London, it became apparent to Franklin that Keith’s promises were false.

Before he left, Deborah and Benjamin “interchang’d some Promises,” as Benjamin later wrote of the events before he set off. With Keith’s promises proving to be lies, Benjamin found himself compelled to spend longer than anticipated in London. He sent Deborah a letter stating that he would be in London indefinitely.

After several months, Benjamin returned to Philadelphia and found that Deborah had been heartbroken by his absence. Believing that she may never see him again, she entered into a relationship with a potter (or a carpenter, depending on the source) named John Rogers, whom she later married. Franklin would later write of the event, describing it as a “great Erratum” for which he felt a certain responsibility and guilt. (Read more.)

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The Art of N.C. Wyeth

"Noontime"

"Mowing"

From Under the Gables:

N. C. Wyeth believed an artist has to pour his entire self into a subject to paint it. Only one year before he completed Jim Hawkins Leaving Home, he had started his own home after marrying Miss  Caroline Bockius of Wilmington, Delaware. In 1908 he bought land in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, with the proceeds from his Treasure Island illustrations and built his brick house for his young family. He wrote his mother in 1911, "How I look forward to our life in this snug little house.... Home spirit is the most religious thing I possess." And in another letter, as in 1905, he writes of how a box in which his mother had mailed a cake to him had made him homesick, as "it reeked of odors that told inexhaustible stories." (Read more.)

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Zelensky Comes to America

 From Leo's Newsletter:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky began his visit to the United States in Pennsylvania with a stop Sunday at the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, where he thanked American workers producing the 155mm artillery shells Ukraine uses to kill Russians in a nasty border war with its fellow slavic neighbor to the east.

I wonder how those American workers feel making weapons for the leader of perhaps the most corrupt country in the world, Ukraine, which is being used by a corrupt Washington Unitparty to poke the Russian bear in the eyeball. Maybe they’re not aware of the geopolitical ramifications of their work. I doubt many are or they would be looking for other, less provocative jobs.

But Zelensky is a master at spinning lies and clever propaganda, playing Westerners who fall easy prey because of their lack of knowledge about the history of the Ukraine-Russia dispute. Even the BBC, in a March 2022 article, acknowledged Zelensky’s speeches appear crafted to “shame” Western parliaments into giving him more money and weapons.

“It is in places like this where you can truly feel that the democratic world can prevail,” Zelensky posted on X, praising the Pennsylvania factory, which has boosted production to try to meet Ukraine’s endless needs for more shells. “Thanks to people like these — in Ukraine, in America, and in all partner countries — who work tirelessly to ensure that life is protected.” (Read more.)

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On the Security Failure at Butler

 From Collin Rugg on X:

Senator Josh Hawley says whistleblowers have come forward, alleges the Biden DHS assigned “unprepared and inexperienced personnel” to Trump who weren’t even Secret Service. 

“Whistleblowers who have direct knowledge of the event have approached my office. According to the allegations, the July 13 rally was considered to be a loose' security event,” Hawley said in a letter to Mayorkas. “For example, detection canines were not used to monitor entry and detect threats in the usual manner. Individuals without proper designations were able to gain access to backstage areas.” 

“Department personnel did not appropriately police the security buffer around the podium and were also not stationed at regular intervals around the event's security perimeter.” 

“In addition, whistleblower allegations suggest the majority of DHS officials were not in fact USSS agents but instead drawn from the department's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).” 

“This is especially concerning given that HSI agents were unfamiliar with standard protocols typically used at these types of events, according to the allegations.” (Read more.)

 

From The National Pulse:

 United States Secret Service (USSS) Director Kimberly Cheatle was lambasted by a group of Republican United States Senators as she walked through the Republican National Convention (RNC) on Wednesday. The Senators demanded answers and transparency regarding the security failures that led to Saturday’s attempted assassination of former President Donald J. Trump.

“This was an assassination attempt! You owe the people answers. You owe President Trump answers,” shouted Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) as she and others kept stride with Cheatle through the convention concourse. Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), meanwhile, accused the USSS director of “stonewalling.” (Read more.)

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Former Philadelphia Judge of Elections Convicted of Conspiring to Violate Civil Rights and Bribery

 From the DOJ:

A former Judge of Elections has been convicted for his role in accepting bribes to cast fraudulent ballots and certifying false voting results during the 2014, 2015, and 2016 primary elections in Philadelphia. Domenick J. Demuro, 73, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty during a sealed proceeding on March 16, 2020, before U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond to conspiring to deprive persons of civil rights, and using interstate facilities in aid of bribery. The court unsealed the matter today. Sentencing is scheduled for June 30, 2020.

During his guilty plea hearing, Demuro admitted that while serving as an elected municipal Judge of Elections, he accepted bribes in the form of money and other things of value in exchange for adding ballots to increase the vote totals for certain candidates on the voting machines in his jurisdiction and for certifying tallies of all the ballots, including the fraudulent ballots. Demuro further admitted that a local political consultant gave him directions and paid him money to add votes for candidates supported by the consultant, including candidates for judicial office whose campaigns actually hired the consultant, and other candidates for various federal, state and local elective offices preferred by that consultant for a variety of reasons. Demuro also admitted that the votes he added in exchange for payments by the political consultant increased the number of votes fraudulently recorded and tallied for the consultant’s clients and preferred candidates, thereby diluting the ballots cast by actual voters.

“This defendant abused his office by engaging in election fraud for profit,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Today’s conviction makes it clear that the Department of Justice will do all in its power to protect the integrity of elections and maintain public confidence in all levels of elected government.” (Read more.)

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The Jaguar

 From The History Desk:

The Jaguar automobile is also sleek, fast and fit transportation for a god. But we humans can have one as well. Some of you will prefer the newer models, like the I Pace, which is an EV. Jaguars also have the fuel injectable, a sedan, and a SUV. The sports model is the F type. It comes in both a coupe and convertible. The convertible will set you back $115,000.

Of course, it is the sporty version I dream of. But not for 2023. I’m looking backwards, to 1959.

I am a historian. I am always looking backwards. And, assuredly, there is stuff back there that is way superior to the stuff we have today. Like the Jaguar XK 150 roadster.

Be still my heart!

Being a girl who will only drive red cars, of course, I will want it in red. Like the one in the picture. Continuing on with my most self-centered rant today, I also want suits made my Chanel, Balmain, and Dior.

Okay, ask the question, are suits by Chanel, Balmain and Dior, circa 1959, better looking than the ones made today? Yes! Indeed, any suit made in 1959 is better than most suits made today. Both for women, and men.

I don’t complain about workmanship, mind you. I am speaking strictly of style. The classy stuff. As in elevating one’s game, overall, in life.

So, what is my evidence that things, style wise, are descending into a pit?

I offer up, exhibit A: Fetterman, from Pennsylvania, dressing in gym clothes to take his seat in the senate.

Fetterman’s lack of decorum, is simply the latest signal that our society is being swallowed by the muck and mire that have brought us to this place. Men who sing, not of sophisticated ladies, but of whores, well, consider that exhibit B. Exhibit C? The love affair of clothing that stretches to reveal every curve and profusion of the human body. And Exhibit D, is the morbid obesity we see, every day, on the streets. Where is either self respect or self love, when 30% of the population cram junk food into their mouth, every damn day? (Read more.)

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Uranium Glassware

 From Lancaster Online:

Geiger counters will click if you point them at this glass. There’s actual uranium in there — specifically, in most cases, uranium oxide. The amount varies by piece. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said there’s no danger to handling it. Lately the glass has been hot, says shop owner Connie Anderson.

“That’s been going on for the last 60 to 90 days,” she says. “Country Living always puts out its ‘most desirable collectibles’ and whatever they put on there (uranium glass, recently) is what people come in here looking for.”

Some vendors put black lights on their displays. “It glows neon green with purple in it,” she says. “It’s really cool to look at.”

Railroad items also draw shoppers. They’re a specialty of one of her vendors.“These are full-scale, big commercial railroad items like bells and lights,” Anderson says, adding they seem to be headed for an increasing number of homes. (Read more.)

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Mothers of Sorrow

We send our children out into the world, hoping they will be safe. Now a Catholic university in Ohio seems to be the definition of well-being and security. The Franciscan University has a happy, carefree spirit that comes not only from youthful energy but from the zeal for the Faith. A few years before the incident in question I stayed with friends in their house on MacDowell Street near the campus. I would never have guessed that  a horrendous crime would soon occur in what looked to me like a safe neighborhood.  But in the early morning hours of May 31, 1999 two students from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Brian Muha and Aaron Land, were savagely beaten and kidnapped at gunpoint during a home invasion. The assailants were two eighteen-year-old boys, known to their friends as Boo and Terrell, who coveted Brian's Chevy Blazer, parked outside the house on MacDowell Street. The kidnappers did not even know the names of their victims and had no previous acquaintance; other than stealing the car the motive of the crime appeared to be nothing more than the amusement of the perpetrators. After driving them across the Pennsylvania border and tormenting them in the most vile and inhuman ways, Terrell and Boo marched Brian and Aaron up a hill near Route 22 and shot them each in the head. The bodies were found beneath a wild white rose bush on June 4, 1999. 

Meanwhile Boo and Terrell had been arrested, partly due to the fact that they were bragging about what they had done to the "white students." Other than having white skin, Brian and Aaron were hounded to death because they were students at a Catholic university which, perhaps unknown to Boo and Terrell, was and is an ethnically diverse institution, dedicated to educating young people from all over the world regardless of color and social class. It brings to mind other murders of Catholics in the last two thousand years in which sexual humiliation or degradation occurred in order to mock, and attempt to taint, the purity which those who hate us seem to know we value. I am reminded of the virgin martyrs of pagan Rome, of some of the Jesuit Martyrs of North America, to martyrs of modern times like the Servant of God Elisabeth of France, whose modesty was outraged moments before being guillotined. And then there are the millions who died in gulags and concentration camps of the twentieth century, where being stripped naked was par for the course. More recently we have heard stories of the treatment of Christian women in the hands of ISIS. We Christians are repeatedly forced to recognize the evil that exists in the same world with the children we are sending into it. Only the Passion of Our Savior gives any consolation and shows us that evil can be turned into good.

Both Brian and Aaron were the sons of devout Catholic single mothers, Rachel Ganim Muha and Kathleen O'Hara., who have each tried in their own way to bring good out of the bottomless pit of horror and tragedy that surrounded the murders of their children and the trials of the killers. A recent book about the case is from the point of view of Mrs. Muha called Legacy of Mercy. Legacy of Mercy by Gretchen Crowe is a life-changing book. To say it is inspiring is an understatement.  A day-by-day account of the case is given, including the testimonies of friends and families of the victims. It is powerful how the Franciscan University community came together to support the stricken families with loving care and prayers. After the trial in Ohio found the perpetrators guilty of murder they had to be tried again in Pennsylvania where the actual murders had occurred, putting the victim's families through hell all over again. Throughout all the turmoil, Brian's mother Mrs. Muha was determined that her son's legacy would not be his murder, but a foundation in his name that would glorify God by corporal and spiritual works of mercy, especially for underprivileged children. The second part of the book is about the work of the Brian Muha Foundation and how forgiveness for the sake of Christ can bring redemption, and even positive social change, out of pure darkness.

 Here is a quote from a statement made by Mrs. Muha at the trial of one of her son's killers, which is also in the book:

I want you to know, Terrell, that when Brian looked at you that early morning, he saw the hate in your eyes, he saw the viciousness in your face, but I know he didn't see the color of your skin. He didn't care about skin color, as you and your so-called "friends" seem to. He didn't hate people because of their skin color -- he didn't hate anyone. Hate is madness of the heart -- it makes people mean -- and Brian's heart was, and is even more so now, beautiful. There is a woman in Steubenville named Loretta Johnson, a black woman who came to me after Brian and Aaron were found and told me about Brian helping her out at her home -- she is very poor and her home needed repairs. Many of the Franciscan University students do the same. You needed a real friend in your life, Terrell, and Brian and Aaron would have been that for you. (Read more.) 

In 2009 Aaron's mother Kathleen O'Hara's book A Grief Like No Other: Surviving the Violent Death of Someone You Love was published. As a professional counselor, Mrs. O'Hara's work is a tool for other counselors as well as for their clients, people who may or may not be Catholic but who have PTSD or who are trying to help someone with PTSD. I found the exploration of the various stages of grief and the stress disorders experienced by those who have endured violence and great physical suffering to be helpful in understanding traumatic occurrences in my own family. It can be helpful to understand why people act the way they do as a result even of second hand trauma. And the book makes it clear that there are some experiences which alter us forever, from which there is no total healing in this world. It reminds me of Madame Royale in which the heroine struggles to go on in the face of the aftereffects of the violent murder of her entire family. It is the suffering of living, in which hope comes only from faith in the Risen Christ.

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Enslaved in Bethlehem, PA

 Yes, there was slavery in the North. From WFMZ News:

Gordon had been looking into slavery in Northampton County. He was astonished the day he found a full register of men, women and children who were enslaved in the Lehigh Valley.

"I stumbled across it this past summer at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia," said Gordon. "I flipped a page, and there it was. For many years, it was thought to be lost." It came as a shock to many. When people think slavery, they think the South. But the register detailed the names of the enslaved who were owned by elites in Northampton County, specifically in Bethlehem.

"I do think it's a wakeup call that the north is just as much a place where people were enslaved as the South," Gordon said. Gordon wanted to spread the word. He presented his findings to residents of the Lehigh Valley at the Sigal Museum in Easton, giving everyone a first-hand look at history in their own backyard.

"This is very exciting for us. We really have a preliminary understanding of slavery and we see a register, this glimpse in time," said Megan van Ravenswaay, executive director of the Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society.

"It makes these people alive again," said van Ravenswaay. The historians say this is only the beginning of the conversation. People can expect more stories and more exhibits as they learn more information. (Read more.)

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Paterno and an "UnHappy" Legacy

 Thanks to the journalists who have thoroughly researched this story, of which I heard bits and pieces during the years I lived in State College. While I was living there a young teachers was hideously assaulted around the corner from my house. Considering what a small town it is there have been some terribly violent crimes as well as several disappearances, such as the strange case of the vanished district attorney, Ray Gricar. Although I had (and still have) some good friends there, it was also my misfortune to encounter several sociopaths, in that place called "Happy Valley." From ESPN:

The story of Todd Hodne should have been one of those stories—one that prompted change or at the very least one for which people were held accountable. It should have been a story that elicited outrage, but it wasn't, because the story of the Penn State football player who preyed pitilessly on women even as his team and his coach were competing for the national championship was never told. Like Betsy Sailor, who even after she won in court had to find out that the man who victimized her went on to victimize so many others, the women who suffered at Todd Hodne's hands had to suffer in vain, their pain a missed opportunity cloaked in a secrecy and silence that reverberated decades later.

Ten years ago, when the revelations of the secrets kept by Penn State's athletic department resulted in the conviction of Jerry Sandusky on 45 counts of child sexual abuse involving 10 boys and caused the statue of Paterno at Beaver Stadium to come down, Shelley Gottsagen, who in 1975 had participated in the protests against gang rapes at "the football fraternity," read the coverage expecting a reckoning that never happened: "It stunned me. I really thought, I just made that comment so many times when Sandusky's trial was happening ... I can't believe nobody's dug up what happened in the '70s there. The protests and the rapes—it's gone from history. It stunned me. I really thought, 'Why are they not looking?'" When Karen Zelin, who was working alongside Gottsagen in the 1970s, heard about Sandusky, it almost made sense to her: "This is what was happening then. This was common knowledge among us that things were covered up or ignored." Those incidents with women were the prelude of what was to come, says Joanne Tosti-Vasey, the NOW chapter president who called for Paterno to resign in 2006: "That climate of indifference allowed it [Sandusky's crimes] to happen. It took child sexual assault for the public to become outraged."

At the time of the Sandusky revelations—at the time a 2012 report determined that Paterno failed to respond appropriately when made aware of the accusations against his assistant coach—the general public's understanding was that this was the first time this program had been faced with the prospect of a serial sexual predator in its midst. The belief was that the coaching staff and the administration at Penn State had been caught unawares, that something had happened that they never could have imagined or prepared for.

But that was not the case.

Before Jerry Sandusky, there was Todd Hodne. Before the serial sexual predator who ended Paterno's career, there was the serial sexual predator who left his career untouched. (Read more.)

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Philadelphia’s $500K Tax-Funded Abortion Bankroll

 From The Federalist:

While President Biden continues to frame Democrats’ fight over abortion as merely a battle to codify Roe and Casey, state-level liberals, such as Philadelphia Mayor James Kenney, expose the true extremist position of the party. A lawsuit brought by residents of the City of Brotherly Love challenging Philadelphia’s gift of $500,000 in taxpayer dollars to the Abortion Liberation Fund to pay for abortions reveals this reality.

Charles Kuhar Sr. and Theresa Kuhar, two residents of Philadelphia, first filed suit against the city after Kenney announced its intent to contribute half-a-million dollars to the Abortion Liberation Fund — an organization with the express purpose of providing financial assistance to women to pay for abortions. Upon learning that Kenney’s administration had already transferred the cash to the Abortion Liberation Fund, the Kuhars filed an amended complaint, seeking both a rule that the transfer of funds violates the federal Hyde Amendment, the Pennsylvania constitution, and two Pennsylvania statutes, and an order for the taxpayer money to be returned to the city. (Read more.)

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RIP Christine Irvin

 RIP Christine Irvin. Rest in peace dear friend and may we meet again when the last trumpet shall sound.

They are not long, the weeping and the laughter,
Love and desire and hate:
I think they have no portion in us after
We pass the gate.
They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream. ~Ernest Dowson

 

Christine worked and prayed for the pro-life cause. On the day of her funeral, June 24, 2022, Feast of the Sacred Heart, Roe v Wade was overturned.

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Meanwhile, Back in Philadelphia...

 From The Brownstone Institute:

Here we go again. Just a short month ago Philly became a laughing stock as the only city in the country to try to reinstate mask mandates, only to rescind the mandate four days later. No bad outcomes of rescinding the mandate have been reported. If it had been allowed to continue, it would have been pointless.

Yet here we are: Mask mandates are reimposed in Philadelphia’s schools starting Monday, May 23. According to the Inquirer, Superintendent Hite said in an email to staff, “the coronavirus continues to evolve and so too will our response to it.” He called for working “together to minimize spread.” Let’s examine those two statements and how they correspond with our current situation.

It is true that the SARS-Cov-2 virus continues to evolve, as should our response to it. In fact, it has evolved so much that it has managed to infect at least 60% of us, and we will all inevitably get it multiple times from now on. That is why, as Dr. Fauci announced on April 26th to surprisingly little fanfare, “We are certainly right now in this country out of the pandemic phase.” Which means that the measures we used during the pandemic to try to slow transmission, flatten the curve, etc. are no longer necessary. The goal is no longer to “minimize spread.” Covid has or will spread to all of us. This applies to all mask mandates, not just in schools.

But let’s look specifically at mask mandates in schools. There are some vital Covid facts that bear on this issue, many of which have not been well publicized or explained:

FACT #1: Deaths in children from Covid are extremely rare.

In the entire United States of America, over the last 26 months, 1,045 children under age 18 (out of approximately 73 million) have died of Covid. That’s between 0% and 0.28% of all reported Covid deaths. It means children under 18 have less than 2 in 100,000 chances of dying of Covid, which is lower than their risk of dying of child abuse or car accidents. (Read more.)

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The Family Who Inspired ‘The Philadelphia Story’

 

From The New York Post:

Helen Hope Montgomery was perfectly suited to a life of excess. She regularly made the best-dressed lists beside Babe Paley and once sang a naughty song to the Duke of Windsor. She won a Charleston contest judged by Josephine Baker.

A legendary bon vivant, she would become the inspiration for Katharine Hepburn’s character Tracy Lord in “The Philadelphia Story” — a spoiled Main Line heiress who remarries her debonair ex-husband, played by Cary Grant.

“She was charming, flirtatious, disciplined, competitive and driven,” writes her granddaughter Janny Scott in her new book “The Beneficiary” (Riverhead Books), out now.

Montgomery grew up on Ardrossan, a storied estate dubbed “The American Downton Abbey” that her father, an investment banker, built during the Gilded Age and named after a Scottish town and castle that supposedly belonged to his ancestors. On a plot of land the size of Central Park, the family compound — which they referred to simply as “The Place” — included farmhouses, stables, barns, kennels, swimming pools, a skating rink, a 50-room mansion and dozens of other homes that at one point housed four generations of the Scott family. (Read more.)

From Mainline Today:

At 368 pages and with over 450 photographs, Ardrossan has generated some buzz. The book’s distributor chose it as one of 18 books to bring to last year’s BookExpo in New York City. “That shocked me to pieces—but thrilled me, too,” says Wren, who’s done local signings at the Acorn Club, Radnor Hunt, the Radnor Historical Society, the Union League and the Athenaeum of Philadelphia.

Ardrossan‘s New York City-based publisher, Bauer and Dean, bills the Montgomerys as real-life American counterparts to the Granthams of Downton Abbey. Bauer and Dean also notes that Philip Barry’s 1939 play, The Philadelphia Story, and the subsequent Hollywood film are based on the family. The latter, however, is “a generic version of the play,” Wren says. “With respect to all who love The Philadelphia Story, the family is a bit over it.” (Read more.) 

More on Helen Hope Montgomery Scott, HERE.

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Mare of Easttown (2021)

 

Kate Winslet's acting is first rate, although the cursing and promiscuity make it not a family show. It is realistic, though. The Delco accents are perfect. From Word on Fire:

Mare is wise and self-sacrificing, but she is no flawless heroine. Amid her combative relationship with her mother (played with great pathos and equally great comedic timing by Jean Smart), Mare buries her grief over the suicide of her son. She is also deeply, and perhaps unfairly, bitter toward her grandson’s mother, who is battling addiction. When Mare is off duty, she drinks one Rolling Rock after another, and she engages in an off-and-on fling with Richard, an itinerant writing professor, played by Guy Pierce. And Mare cannot stop herself from committing one particularly malicious act of sabotage.

Everyone in Mare’s life is deeply troubled, including her same-sex attracted daughter, Siobhan, who is talented and big-hearted but whose traumatic life experiences have left her as angry, rebellious, and broken as anyone. But when she departs for a college on the other side of the country, we have a reasonable hope that with God’s grace and some time away from Easttown, Siobhan may become a whole new creation someday.

The depiction of the Church in Mare of Easttown is refreshingly fair. In a time of continuing concerns about the history of sexual abuse cover-ups, viewers are rightly predisposed to suspicion toward the priest and deacon who are featured among the characters. But the show also assumes that most of the townspeople have at least some historic, positive connection to Catholicism, including Mare. Her cousin is the local pastor, who often visits for cocktails with Mare’s mother. (Practicing Catholic viewers, however, may find one or two details odd, including the highly unusual circumstance of a permanent deacon being depicted as a celibate man who lives in a rectory.) 

Pro-life threads run everywhere through Mare of Easttown. The preservation of the lives of young people, as well as justice for young lives lost, are among the show’s major themes. When a junkie dies, his end is met not with a shrug but with real regret and grief. There is a significant character with Down syndrome, as well as multiple unwed young mothers who have chosen to keep and raise their children, and receive support from their families and friends. At one point, a morally dubious character mentions how he unsuccessfully tried to pressure his girlfriend into an abortion. 

In the final episode, called “Sacrament,” the Church is the place where the whole community is gathered and encouraged with the words, “We’ve finally come out of a tunnel and arrived at the next level of healing.” In the homily, the close-knit town hears, “Our job is only to love,” which sounds at first like the ubiquitous pablum of cheap grace that undermines the hard road of the cross, until we take another look at Mare, whose name is significant. In one of the final scenes of the series, Mare holds a grief-stricken friend on the floor of her kitchen, posed similarly to Michelangelo’s Pietà. As a sort of mother to the whole town, Mare’s love bears the weight of others’ hurt—on top of her own. A sword has pierced her heart and graces flow through her wounds. (Read more.)

From No Film School:

Perhaps the most talked-about aspect of the show was how many diverse and interesting characters it brought to the forefront. Of course, Mare herself was deep and well-formed. We saw the trauma she carried and the pain as well. But her mother, daughter, ex-husband, and even daughter-in-law all had their own distinct stories. So did her friends and even the side characters. Each person could have been the star of their own show, and that's what made them all feel whole, and also what drew bona fide stars to round out the cast. How can you focus your character creation? Make sure the people you come up with are the stars of their own story threads. (Read more.)

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